Ticking Time Bomb
by Winter Coma
Summary: Ben got tired of the bullies picking on him and the kids weaker than them. But when he tries to save a little boy from getting beat up, things don't go as intended. Now Ben has to decide whether using the Omnitrix this time is the right thing to do... One-shot


_I really should be working on my other stories, but this story was all like "...Winter, write me... or you won't be able to study for your Psychology test."_

_So here I am, writing a one-shot for the very first time. _

_So, here we have ten year old Ben, who just came back from a summer of defeating alien villains with the super powerful Omnitrix. Only know he's just ordinary Ben Tennyson, who gets bullied everyday and can't seem to do anything about it._

_But now that he has the Omnitrix..._

* * *

…_tick…tick…_

Ben hated school-no, he hated fifth grade. It used to be fun, hanging out with his friends, when he had any. Now it was slow torture that not even Vilgax could imitate. And it wasn't like the teachers cared. If he told, he was accused of being a snitch or he was told to suck it up. And when he tried to do something good for someone else, it always bit him in the butt.

Take this afternoon, for example. Ben was about to walk home from school when he saw some poor fourth grader get bullied by sixth graders. All the little kid wanted to do was practice basketball, but the older boys wanted to play. And instead of going to some other court, they decided to harass the kid, circling around him, pushing him around, laughing as he fell down and kicking him as he tried to get back up.

Ben was about to do something about it, but he recognized the boys who, along with Cash and JT, often bullied him. Tripping him in the hallway, knocking the books out of his hands and then kicking them away when Ben tried to pick them up, giving him wedgies, shoving him in his locker… It was safe to say that messing with these boys would lead to more of that.

…_tick…tick…_

Ben's hand immediately fluttered towards the Omnitrix, which he got over the summer. His grandpa told him not to use it in front of others, but something like this had to be okay. Just in case, Ben looked around him. The school campus was empty, no teacher in sight. Why wasn't there an authority figure when you needed one?

The little boys' basketball bounced towards Ben, forgotten by the bullies. He picked it up and threw it at one of their heads. The bully fell to his knees, cradling his head and moaning. The others zoned in on Ben, who smiled and waved a little. The little boy took the chance and ran for his life, leaving Ben to deal with everything.

…_tick…tick…_

The bullies circled around him, making it impossible for Ben to run away. His hand once again fluttered to his wrist, but a boy grabbed his wrist and looked at the Omnitrix.

"Nice watch; give it!" He began pulling at the Omnitrix, making Ben cry out at his skin began to bleed. "What the…" the boy said, letting go. The bullies looked at each other, confused and kind of freaked. Ben took the chance and barreled through the crowd, running as fast as his ten year old legs could carry him.

…_tick…tick…_

Ben ran out of school into town, the bullies hot on his heels. His lungs burning, he pushed himself farther and tried to lose them, going in a zigzag direction into an alleyway. Unfortunately for Ben, he didn't really know the alleys of Bellwood that well, so he was trapped at a dead end, the voices of the boys at the end of the alley coming towards him.

Ben had always looked up to his grandpa, so when Max Tennyson told his grandson that he shouldn't use the Omnitrix for evil purposes, his grandson listened. But was defending yourself with the Omnitrix so bad? No doubt that grandpa wanted him to solve his problems with peaceful discussion and intelligence. But Ben wasn't Gwen, and this was the real world; if you didn't want to get beat up, you had to stand up for yourself, even if it meant fighting.

One of the voices became excited. No doubt they had found him. Ben's hand moved on its own, already squeezing the dial to a random alien. Max's voice echoed through his head, warning him about the consequences.

…_tick…tick…_

Ben hesitated, his grandpa's words echoing through his mind. He was so distracted he didn't hear the footsteps behind him. He only realized the position he was in when he felt a hand grip his shoulder until it hurt.

Ben's hand hovered over the dial.

…_tock._

* * *

_How was it for a one-shot? I've read a lot of them and wanted to try it out, so here it is! Review and tell me what you think._


End file.
